Los Angeles-area hospitals are reporting a terrifying new trend amongst teens: They're using hand sanitizer—and not the good way that results in germ-free fingers. Kids are getting dangerously hammered on the stuff. What happened to the good old days when just a little filched church wine was good enough to do the job?

According to the Los Angeles Times, six teenagers have landed in San Fernando Valley emergency rooms after drinking toxic quantities of hand sanitizer. Make no mistake, they're after the good stuff:

The liquid hand sanitizer is 62% ethyl alcohol and makes a 120-proof liquid. A few drinks can cause a person's speech to slur and stomach to burn, and make people so drunk that they have to be monitored in the emergency room.

OK, fine, you can get drunk on hand sanitizer, but that doesn't mean you should. Come on, guys! Even if teens have been finding creative ways to get drunk forever, this has gone too far. Hand-sanitizer is so much crazier than mouthwash or anything else. There's nothing about that viscous liquid that would make any sane person think it's a good idea to put it in their mouth let alone ingest it. Is it really so hard to get a homeless guy to buy you some beer? [LA Times via USAToday]

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Update
Of course. Whenever there are stupid kids doing stupid things, there are always stupid kids making videos of the stupid things they're doing and sharing them with the whole world. Is that kid in the video above really drinking hand sanitizer? Hard to say, but based on his reaction, we're pretty sure that's what it's like. [Daily News]